I haven't pushed you to your limits yet, you're saying.
Something like that.
I could only shake my head. Hell, I'd taken him deep beneath the ocean, and all the way out into space, the moon and Mars, respectively. What else could the big fella do?
You need only ask, Sam.
Okay, maybe I will. Someday.
I'm always here, Sam.
I know, I thought. I mean, I think I know. Tell me again how we connected, Talos? Tell me how you found me, or I found you?
The answer is multifaceted and far-reaching, Sam.
I have all the time in the world.
My world and your world are deeply connected, as evidenced by the dragons in your mythology, both past and present.
I'm following so far.
We have a keen interest in your world, which is not very different from our own.
Except yours is much more highly evolved.
Much, much more.
Okay, no need to rub it in.
No rubbing, Sam. We are many millions of years ahead of you.
That's a lot of evolving going on, I thought.
Precisely. And your highly evolved dark masters reached out to us.
How did they find you?
The worlds are not as separated as you might think, Sam. Indeed, you and I are only a flame away. But in their case, before a connection was made with us, they used astral traveling.
Conscious sleep? I asked.
Close, Sam. Meditation would be a better word. Many on your planet do it. But not all travel to new worlds.
And you formed a friendship with them?
Not quite, Sam. We saw an opportunity.
You do understand they are called dark masters for a reason? I asked.
We knew their nature, Sam.
What did they want from you?
A partnership, of sorts. They sought to use us in their wars.
And you agreed?
We do not fight wars, Sam.
I thought about that. I also thought about the few times I had summoned Talos to fight my own wars.
I used you to kill, I thought.
Indeed.
And you are okay with that?
I give myself to you, Sam, for you to use as you see fit.
Would you prefer I didn't use you to kill?
I prefer for you to evolve at your own pace, Sam, without my intervention. I trust you are making the best choices for you and those you love.
I flapped his great wings. The process seemed effortless, but I could feel the great force behind each downthrust, a blast of wind that, I imagined, raced all the way to the land far below. Somewhere down there a man's toupee had just blown off. That gave me a giggle.
That's a lot of trust, I finally thought.
The trust goes both ways, Sam.
I nodded at that. My body is with you, in your world.
Safe and sound.
Am I in my body? I asked. I mean, am I holding a conversation with you there?
No, Sam. You are sitting next to me, quietly, waiting.
Because I have not mastered the art to being in two places at the same time.
Not yet. No.
But maybe someday?
Maybe, Sam. If it serves a purpose for you.
I considered the full extent of his words. So, the dark masters thought they were using you, but, in fact, you were using them?
That is safe to say, Sam.
And how, exactly, are you using them?
By finding our way to you. And others like you.
Other vampires?
Yes, Sam.
But how did we-you and I-link up, so to speak? How did you know to find me? How did I find you? How did you know to come on that night, five years ago, when I jumped out of the hotel balcony?
Oh, we had connected long before, Sam, thanks to the entity within you.
But does she not know that you cannot be used?
She does not know that, Sam.
I might be lost, I thought.
Sam, I have given myself to you completely and totally, in good faith.
I thought about that. I thought about it long and hard. And if she should ever take me over completely and totally...
She would take me over too, at least here in your world.
And she would be...
Powerful, Sam. Very, very powerful.
Then I can't let that happen. Ever.
That is for you to decide, Sam.
But she gets ejected from me each time I connect with you. This is our safe place, you have said. Wouldn't she be ejected? But before he could answer, I answered my own question. I would be the one who is ejected, then.
Indeed, Sam.
And Dracula? I know he, too, can transform into his own dragon.
The man you call Dracula is doing his best to fight the entity within him.
But he's mostly losing, I thought.
He is in, it is safe to say, the fight of his life.
We were silent, even as the wind thundered over Talos's ears. That is, if he even had ears. I twitched... something. I think it was an ear.
I have ears, Sam.
Good to know.
I continued flapping, each movement slow and methodical, effortless yet powerful. I sensed this was Talos's optimum speed. His trot so to speak. His natural gait. I also sensed that Talos could fly like this from now until eternity.